Just over a full year in the past at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Cadillac were at last awarded the go-ahead as the world of Formula One's newest participant for the 2026 season. Establishing the organization from the ground up has involved a hectic pace of work that the principal, Graeme Lowdon, has equated to the NASA lunar mission. As F1 converges on the Vegas strip this race weekend, Cadillac are aware time is getting tight.
The Countdown to Melbourne
At the season finale of the season to be staged in the United States, with around a hundred days to go before they take to the track for the first time in Australia at the 2026 opener, Cadillac have come on in leaps and bounds but, in what must seem like a sisyphean endeavor, they are aware there will not be enough hours in the day.
The chief technical officer, Nick Chester, came aboard the newly formed project in early 2023 soon after it was created, when the team were without even an confirmed place. He has been at its core since then and has a amused expression when reflecting on the experience.
“You can have five minutes looking back at what you’ve done and say: ‘Wow, what an achievement what we have built in less than three years,’” he says. “Then the following moment you realize: ‘Yeah, we still have a significant amount to do.’”
A One-of-a-Kind Challenge
The CTO had success at the Renault team in Alonso's title-winning seasons of the mid-2000s and was in control of technical direction at the then-new Mercedes electric racing team, but no other project has truly matched the mission of launching the iconic American Cadillac brand, a factory team backed by the owner, GM, into the pinnacle of motorsport.
“Establishing an Formula One team from nothing, how often do you get the opportunity to do that?” he says. “It is like nothing else. In an well-set team you don’t get the opportunity to alter cultural approach.”
With each passing day that elapses minds are sharper on the impending critical moment in Australia and targets are being set realistically.
“You have to assume that any incoming team coming in is going to be last but simply getting on to the grid will be an achievement in itself,” the team principal stated recently and while Nick Chester agreed with this sentiment he felt the squad had a reputation to build as well.
“The initial objective we aim to demonstrate is that we should be there,” he says. “In order that we turn up and we perform competently. We seek to prove that we are a serious contender executing the proper actions on the race track. When we have demonstrated that our credentials are solid, then we want to show forward movement after that.”
Driver Lineup and Team Building Push
In August they recruited Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas as their pilots for 2026, a duo remarkable for their priceless expertise in performing at the sharp end in two championship-winning squads, the Red Bull team and Mercedes-AMG, and Valtteri Bottas expressed the sentiment of combative optimism.
“Of course, we are pragmatic,” he said. “There’s going to be a huge amount of work to do, and it will likely be most likely a tough opening, because this is Formula One. But we’re not there to remain at the rear. In my view with this structure, with these individuals, these personnel, there is every reason that we won't be able to advance swiftly to a competitive level and taste victory.”
To realize that ambition recruitment has been in overdrive, with staff now reaching more than 400 and scheduled to reach the target of 600 members rapidly. Alongside their current base at the Silverstone circuit, the organization are in the phase of completing an headquarters at the Fishers location in the Indianapolis area and there is the General Motors facility in Charlotte, where they are constructing the plant to manufacture the 2029 engine, planned for 2029 – for now they will run Ferrari engines – and the aerodynamic facility in Cologne, Germany. It is a complex structure, at odds with the direction in F1 for greater centralisation, and has led to the fresh organizational mindset to which the CTO referred.
Apollo Model
“It's closely based on the Apollo program,” said Lowdon just before the British GP in the summer. “We’re realistic, we know how challenging it is. The deadlines, they’re super, super, super short. Well, we’re not putting a man on the moon, but the pressure is comparable.”
So they have implemented, as opposed to the conventional chain of command, a non-hierarchical approach comparable to that of NASA's, where there were a variety of Apollo teams all focusing on distinct elements of the program across a variety of locations.
“If you have to go through a process where a challenge emerges and they escalate it to their supervisor, that leader consults a manager somewhere else, it goes back down the chain, the process is very slow,” says Chester. “Therefore we enable people to handle things directly. Moving away from managerial sign-off for everything is so much cleaner and more rapid.”
The Future
The efficacy of this nimble methodology will be tested in the pressure of racing in 2026 and there is a considerable amount on the line for the sport, too. The Cadillac team have recruited as their test driver the 25-year-old Californian Colton Herta
